Chance Glances (The Perks of a Delayed Train)
by Joyytailnote
Summary: The one where Sirius likes to stir up trouble, James makes the best of sticky situation and Lilly gains a steady boyfriend within the space of a minute. Or, how a chance glance changes into so much more. Florence based Muggle AU, Jilly and Wolfstar, Oneshot.


**Hey guys,**

 **I have literally so many half finished chapters and one-shots which just need a little extra or check through – but hopefully I'll up my game and get those ready soon!**

 **Enjoy this in the meantime!**

* * *

There are always those moments when you're on the train, or waiting somewhere in public, and you see someone across the room from you and you can't help let your imagination go wild. There may not be any specific reason why they caught your attention, but for some reason your heart becomes inspired and a whole theoretical future grows in your mind starting from where you currently stood and what could happen next.

Sometimes you just see someone, they catch your eye, and you smile. Nothing more comes from it, but somehow they're in your thoughts, setting up camp and distracting you from whatever it was that you were trying to achieve.

This can happen in the most random or confusing of situations; even at times when it's both illogical and irritating to be thinking about such things. But sometimes, like once in Santa Maria Novella station in Florence, it happened at the most opportune of moments.

However, in this instance, unlike most times, it didn't stop there and it got a whole lot weirder.

* * *

The train station was packed.

Not merely the usual amount for nine o'clock on a Saturday evening, which tended to be a fair amount; instead it was more packed than Lily Evans had ever seen it. Not even the Christmas rush, which was due to arrive soon, could warrant the restless, irritable faces which adorned the many large crowds of people.

During the Christmas time, a packed station was withstood by help of the Christmas spirit which softened people's edges and stretched their self-control; but today none of the crowd looked at all pleasant.

There was only one explanation for the situation, and that was a word which struck fear into the hearts of all train passengers: delays. Santa Maria Novella station was usually fairly well timed, but on days like this, it seemed like the whole system had shut down with all departures being at least forty minutes delayed.

Lily picked her way through the crowds, her shoulder bag hitting both her own, and everybody else's, legs as she passed them, turning back every so often to check if her friend was following. Getting lost in the crowds felt like a very imminent problem, but the two were trying their upmost to avoid it, if possible.

Lily and Remus had been in Florence for a week. They were spending the next few months living here as part of a gap year, and were only just starting to settle in. They had both found small jobs where only English was required and with the money they had been saving up for the last months they flew out and moved into a tiny apartment just one train stop out from the centre of the city.

Remus was currently tugging his heavy, book filled bag behind him, trying his best to keep up with his friend.

"Lily!" He called over the crowd, "Do you even know which train we're getting?" They were passing tracks 16 -9 and weren't slowing enough to read where each of them were going.

"No!" She called back, "but these ones are all going to Rome and Naples... ours are down at the other end!" Remus thought she said some more after that but it was all lost in the noise of the station.

Lily continued to weave between the groups of people, but with her smaller frame she made it look much easier than it was for him. Being about a foot taller, with broader shoulders and large bag handing from his left one, it was far more difficult for him to make his way through.

" _Scusami_ " He muttered as he tried to push his way through, attempting to keep up with his friend who was now many meters in front of him. As she walked, it was like those around her could feel her presence and would make minute movements allowing her more room to pass; the complete opposite was true for Remus. He was sure that he could yell that he was standing there and people would only move more into his path. It wasn't too much of a worry though, he just kept moving on though at his own pace, trying to keep his eye on where Lily was travelling to.

"Here!" He heard her call over all the noise. They had arrived at a platform with a train waiting in it, the place name _Viareggio_ , written on the board beside it. "This goes the right way" Lily said as he approached her and they walked up the platform onto the train.

The train itself was grey with bright green doors and had two decks of seats; but with all the delays that froze the station this train was fit to bursting. Not only were all the seats full, but the areas used for passengers to stand were packed so full that Lily and Remus had to lean into the other passengers in order to get past the doors which only just closed around them.

It was hot; this was one of Lily's first thoughts upon the closing of the doors. Not being the tallest person in the world, she was squeezed between the door and another person, her face close to the other lady's neck. Lily tried not to breathe out too harshly lest this stranger feel completely uncomfortable with Lily's breath on her skin.

This attempt left her feeling a little breathless so he decided instead to face awkwardly over her shoulder and look around the carriage instead. It was then that she noticed what Remus was looking at. His mouth was open slightly as if he hadn't yet noticed that it was like that and his eyes were trained on a passenger on the other side of the small compartment they stood in.

Lily had to admit, this stranger was attractive, but perhaps she wasn't quite as captivated as Remus clearly was. The Italian had fairly long raggedy black hair which was tied in a messy bun on the back of his head. He looked very stylish with the thick plum scarf around his neck and a simple black leather jacket hanging comfortably around his shoulders. He had a small amount of dark stumble on his chin and he stood carelessly, as if he were not currently being squished uncomfortably in a small train compartment.

What made Lily smile was that this man had also seemed to notice Remus and kept looking over at him before looking away as if hoping to look inconspicuous and failing miserably. Remus however seemed a little unable to look away, and Lilly tugged gently on his sleeve and asked him the first question she could think of so as to not let him know that she had noticed his staring.

"Hey, what do you think we should do for dinner tonight?"

At the sound of her voice he was jogged out of his pause and looked away from the stranger to talk to her.

"We've still got some of those Piadina left, right?" He said as he tried to remember what food they had in their fridge, "And the cheese and stuff?"

She nodded and smiled at him, "That sounds nice."

She was about to say something else but the engine of the train, which up until now had been humming consistently, turned off. The whole compartment went quiet, and one of the lights flicked off leaving everything slightly darkened. This was met with a few exasperated chuckles and a couple of mutterings between friends, but most people were just waiting restlessly wondering if they should get off the train or not.

It was then that they were met with an Italian announcement from outside of the train; the whole carriage quietened and listened eagerly.

Lily wasn't good at Italian.

She was planning to learn, but having only been here for a week, she hadn't yet had much of a chance. But she recognised a few words, none of which made any sense in the same sentence together, so instead she survived by watching the expressions of everyone around her.

Lily noticed that Remus had had the same idea, but he was just watching the Italian stranger rather than anyone else and Lily had to retrain her giggle. She had to agree that he might have been onto something though, because this man was muttering an English translation under his breath, whether for the boy who stood next to him or for someone else, she didn't know; but she caught his last few words about how this train was no longer leaving, and that those wishing to get to some of the intended stops should change instead to the train on the next track over.

Suddenly as the announcers voice finished talking about this second train by saying the name ' _Pistoia'_ , everyone in the carriage started leaning towards the doors, and as they opened the crowd stampeded out.

The sheer force from all this movement was surprising, and Lily rushed out with the rest so that she could get some fresh air. Once free, she looked around to try to find Remus but she figured he must have been lost in the crowd.

The whole situation seemed a little surreal; everyone was running and yelling, trying to get to this next train as quickly as possible. Lily watched with wide eyes as people began running over the tracks themselves, and leaping over the small patches of grass which had been, apparently uselessly, fenced off from public access.

Within the whole station there was a feeling of desperation and Lilly almost laughed at how ridiculous it all seemed.

She'd seen films of apocalypses, or desperate situations, and she had always thought that people would be more responsible than they were pertrayed in them; that society wouldn't start to fall apart so easily. But now she saw how just a few delayed trains caused people to begin to ignore all the rules and she now doubted any civilised society could ever continue if anything key began to shut down.

Walking sensibly, she managed to reach the next train, and waited just outside the doors until she saw Remus. He was looking around, lugging his large bag around with him and seeming a little frazzled.

"Hey!" she called out, standing on her tiptoes and waving her arms in the air. He looked towards her with a grateful smile, and walked over to her, though kept looking around him for something else as he did it.

Lily thought she knew what he was looking for.

"Can you not find him?" She grinned at him as he flushed a little in embarrassment.

"No" he muttered.

She laughed and rubbed him consolingly on his arm before they walked onto the train together. The train left after only five minutes wait and they settled into their little apartment to enjoy a nice night in.

To anyone else, that would likely have been the end of it. A few looks and smiles across a train compartment, never to be seen again.

But the truth is that the story was only just beginning.

* * *

"You should have spoken to him" James said as he and Sirius walked into the station a week later.

The crowds weren't half as bad as they were last Saturday, with only half as many people standing in groups or looking up at the departures board, and for this James was extremely grateful. He and Sirius were here to pick up Mr and Mrs Potter who were visiting Florence for the week, and having the room much emptier was making the whole process a lot easier.

"It's not like that was particularly easy with the whole, being squished to our deaths thing which was going on."

James chuckled and looked up at the arrivals board which said his parents would be arriving in roughly five minutes. "You still should have. They looked like tourists, they've probably moved on by now."

Sirius looked particularly grumpy at that prospect.

They could hear the mumbles of conversations around them and the sound of the announcer's voice echoing Italian throughout the room. James had been here a few months, and he'd started being able to pick up on quite a lot of the language. But having Sirius as a friend meant that he didn't have to speak as much Italian as he could have, with him being fluent, and so James was learning a little slower than he could be; but he now recognised a fair amount. He smiled as he was able to understand the whole of the announcement, which had said that his parents train was now arriving at platform nine instead of ten.

Sirius was half Italian, but had spent a number of his teenage years in England, which was where James first met him. They were both at the same boarding school in London and had instantly bonded over their shared sense of humour and mischievous streaks. Since finishing, Sirius had moved back to Italy and James had followed, studying an English-taught degree at the local university.

James grinned at his friend's misery, "You know what I think it was, I think you were scared"

Sirius shot him a displeased look, "No, you cannot just poke my pride in the hope that you'll get a reaction out of it, nope."

James continued on regardless, trying his best to retain his smirk before it spread over his face, "No, he could have been the perfect person, but you'll never know. He could have been able to speak English, he might have had a thing for people who ride motorbikes and he could have been just as gay as you are; but you _chickened_ out! He properly smiled at you, as well."

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "Alright, James. You just poked the bear."

James finally laughed. "Terrifying"

"You bet."

Looking up again at the arrivals board James saw the two dots beside the train from Rome flashing, signalling that the train was arriving, so James and Sirius headed up closer to the platform.

He hadn't seen his parents since he had left England in the summer, and he was excited to show them everything. In his time here he'd not felt particularly homesick, it wasn't him to get to upset over that sort of thing, but the anticipation was definitely still there.

The first person he recognised who got off the train was his father. Fleamont Potter was a tall, greying man and he walked with a small kind of excited hop in his step, the familiarity of it made James laugh a little in memory. His mother, Euphemia Potter, came out of the train next; holding onto her husband's hand to steady her steps, and instantly looked down the platform and saw the both of them waiting. A huge smile immediately bloomed on her face and the couple made their way over, bringing James and then Sirius into enthusiastic hugs.

"How are you both doing?" James' farther asked.

Before James could say anything in response, Sirius spoke. "Really well, thank you, Mr Potter! We had a great evening yesterday, that I think you'd both love to hear about."

At both nods, Sirius slid seamlessly into storyteller mode. "It we just us three; James, his girlfriend and I..."

 _No, Sirius_ , James thought, _don't do that. Don't make up a girlfriend._ He could already see how his mum's face was lighting up.

"... and we were going to get the train, but of course they were so delayed, isn't that just our luck?..."

Sirius went on to tell some bogus story about how they had an exciting evening exploring the city as they tried to make their way home.

"... and you'll never guess what _Jamie_ here said, I had no idea he was such a romantic! He was like..."

With each word he said, James' mum was getting more and more excited about the idea of this perfect girlfriend, that by the end of it she was crying with joy. James tried to glare subtly at Sirius, but was met only with a faux-innocent expression which said, _you shouldn't have poked the bear_.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you, Jamie!" His mum said with a huge grin and he just stood there trying to dredge up even a small smile as she reached round him and hugged him again.

"Yeah..." he mumbled a little uncomfortably.

"What's her name?" She asked, but almost before finishing her question she interrupted herself with the next ones, "How did you meet?", "When do we get to meet her?"

In a move that was both fortunate and completely unfortunate, Sirius interrupted James before he had to answer any of those questions.

"Oh look!" Sirius said with an exaggerated level of enthusiasm before pointing across the room; James just wanted to run away instead of face whatever scheme Sirius had decided to put in motion.

"She's here right now, go call her over!" James looked at where he was looking and saw a beautiful girl, around their age, who was walking through the station just past them. He didn't recognise her at first, it was only when his parents turned to look at her and Sirius gave him a pleading look that he remembered.

"That's his friend, James" Sirius whispered, "The guy on the train, _please_."

He sighed minutely, cursing everything which had led him into this situation and went to walk past his parents towards the girl. Sirius did begin to redeem himself by distracting Mr and Mrs Potter while James walked over, even if only giving him a minute

She was about a foot shorter than him and had long red hair which hung in waves down her back, the odd section curling a little more than the others. She had an elegant, brown, leather bag hanging over her shoulder and she walked with her hand sitting protectively on top of it.

He bit down the uncomfortable feeling in his chest, and prepared a few sentences in Italian that he could say if she didn't speak English, before tapping her gently on the side of her arm.

She turned round and he almost lost his train of thought. She was stunning. She had beautiful green eyes and a smattering of freckles which covered her nose and cheeks subtly. She wore a confused expression and he forced himself out of his brief freeze in order to ask a quick question.

"Do you speak English?" He mumbled quickly.

She looked at him in bewilderment. "Yeah, why?"

He rubbed the side of his nose nervously, before trying to answer her.

"Okay, this is going to be really weird, but I'll only take a second of your time and I promise I'm not trying to pull something or anything like that, just talk to me for a second and go with it alriight?"

"What?" she asked, even more confused than before. Her nose crinkling as she thought through it all, and James had to stop himself from thinking it was adorable. "I don't..."

"Please" He tried, "Just 5 minutes, it's just that..."

"It's so lovely to meet you!" Mrs Potter was walking over to them with a large smile, "I'm James' mother"

"Yeah" James said, "Mum, this is my girlfriend."

Understanding seemed to grow on the girl's face, and she quickly formed a smile on her face and held out her hand in greeting, which was eagerly shaken by both of the Potters.

"Lily", she said, "Lily Evans".

She then easily placed her other hand in the junction of James' elbow and leaned into him slightly and James couldn't help thinking that they couldn't have picked someone more convincing.

Sirius winked at him, and James tried his best to glare, but an unbidden smile was beginning to grow on his lips as she held onto him and he couldn't seem to dispell it.

"I'm so happy to meet you both" the girl, Lily, said enthusiastically, "have you been waiting long, I meant to get here when you arrived"

Sirius, who was standing behind both James' parents looked at his friend sending him an appreciative expression, _she's_ _good_.

"No, no" Fleamont Potter said, "Don't you worry we've only been here a few minutes."

"Can I get you a coffee or anything? You must be exhausted. Let me get you something." Lily insisted.

Euphemia Potter looked like she could not be happier than she was with any other girl James could have started dating, and he tried to push down the guilt he felt at lying to her, but he was too far in now.

"That would be wonderful, dear"

"Perfect, we'll go get them, right love?" Lily said looking up at James as if i was the most natural thing in the world and he almost let himself stop and just keep looking into her eyes rather than reply. But he managed to pull himself out.

"Good idea, I'll see you both in a couple of minutes", he said to his parents and led Lily over to the nearest coffee shop where they hid out of sight.

The shop was fairly small, one of the many which sat within the train station and was full of shelves of books which gave it a pleasant aesthetic. James briefly looked at the counters to their left which were filled with lots of sandwiches and cakes, before getting back to the reason they had come in here.

James turned to look at Lilly and was about to say something embarrassing like, _You're_ _completely_ _incredible_ , but she spoke first.

"What on earth was that? "

She looked like she caught between multiple emotions; she didn't sound angry exactly, kind of like she was completely confused but kind of enjoying herself for some reason, and trying her best to hide that.

"I'm so sorry I sprung that on you, " he said hurriedly, "you were absolutely fantastic though."

A small smile was growing on her face but she managed to repress it. _She really is beautiful_.

"They're only here for a week, and I can tell them you're busy and that's why you can't spend any time with them, it's okay, you can leave if you want to, my friend just put me in a tricky situation."

"He told them you have a girlfriend and you didn't want to have to contradict that?" She suggested.

"Yeah" He said, "that's exactly it. I'm so sorry though"

She laughed, a little easier now that they'd spoken a little. "It's okay, kind of weird. But I've always liked acting, it was kind of fun."

James chuckled. "Do you want me to make up some explanation why you've got to go home?"

She paused for a second to actually consider her answer and James could feel his eyebrows raising above his hairline in surprise.

"You know, I could stay a little longer"

James didn't say anything for a second, he never expected that.

"What, really?"

She laughed a little nervously, as if she was worried that her response was the weirdest thing that had happened today. "Sure, might as well, your parents are lovely. We should start this properly though..."

She held out her hand to him which he took, marvelling at how small her hand was in his.

"Lily" She said simply.

"James" He replied, shaking her hand.

" _Piacere_ " She attempted, completely butchering the Italian accent.

He grinned, "Likewise"

It was at this moment that Sirius walked into the coffee shop and began walking over to them. As he got close James saw the recognition grow in Lily's eyes.

"Oh, you're..."

Sirius smiled sheepishly, having not noticed, "The one who put James in this situation, yeah."

"No" she shook her head, "I mean, on the train last week."

Sirius quickly looked at James with a specific kind of happiness in his eyes which James hadn't seen in a while.

"I made that much of an impression?" He said with a cocky edge to his voice which lilly laughed at.

"I think it was my friend who made the impression actually, going by how many times you looked at him."

James burst out laughing.

She grinned in satisfaction before saying, "I'm just gonna make a call, I'll be back in a second". She picked her phone up out of her bag, and dialled a number which was answered after only a few seconds.

She spoke into the phone as she walked out of the shop, leaving James and Sirius alone.

"Hey, Remus, you'll never guess what! Remember those guys on the train..."

* * *

 **So this was my first dip into the 'Fake relationship' pool – I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! The whole delayed train extravaganza was actually what happened to me about a week ago, just without all the romance and fun stuff, haha.**

 **Just a question, do you guys prefer wacky AUs or just the regular characters?**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **Blessings xox**


End file.
